Pond hockey is perhaps the oldest form of hockey ever played. In recent years, there has been a renewed interest for this sport. There has been a renewed interest for pond hockey at nighttime, under the moonlight for example. Pond hockey is played during January, February and March basically when daylight time is relatively short. Therefore, pond hockey is often played in the afternoon until late evening. One example of such interest in the sport is the World Pond Hockey Championship tournament which has been held annually at the end of February, since 2002. This tournament is held on Roulston Lake in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick, Canada. A total of 120 teams from 15 countries participated to the 2015 tournament. Pond hockey is played by four players in each team, between nets that are six feet wide by ten inches high. The game is played without boards and without a goalie.
Because, this game is often played during the evening, there are numerous advantages to play with an illuminated hockey puck. Although all shots are kept low and relatively soft, a puck is often deflected away from the designated play area or over the net, and ends up in deep snow outside the play area. Therefore, in addition to an increased visibility during the game, an illuminated hockey puck is easier to find when it is inadvertently shot outside the play area.
Although pond hockey is used herein as an example, illuminated hockey pucks are also used when playing street hockey, backyard hockey and regular ice hockey.
When a hockey puck is modified to incorporate a circuit and light sources therein, it is important that the modified hockey puck retains a good balance. It is important that the modified hockey puck does not wobble, swirl or spiral when it is slid on the ice.
In recent years, there has been a number of inventions related to illuminated hockey pucks, for playing pond hockey, or for providing an increased visibility of the puck during televised games. The following documents represent a good inventory of the illuminated hockey pucks available in the prior art in North America.    U.S. Pat. No. 3,102,727 issued to T. C. Rice on Sep. 3, 1963;    U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,536 issued to N. W. Platt on Jan. 15, 1980;    U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,196 issued to M. R. Kutnyak on Feb. 14, 1984;    U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,475 issued to N. F. Newcomb et al. on Jul. 11, 1989;    U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,036 issued to E. Von Der Mark on Nov. 6, 1990;    U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,561 issued to E. Von Der Mark on Oct. 3, 2000;    U.S. Pat. No. 7,621,833 issued to H. Proulx et al. on Nov. 24, 2009;    U.S. Pat. No. 8,727,918 issued to R. Gentile on May 20, 2014;    U.S. Pat. No. 8,727,919 issued to R. Gentile on May 20, 2014;    CA Patent 1,305,734 issued to E. Von Der Mark on Jul. 28, 1992;    CA Patent 1,308,757 issued to N. Newcomb on Oct. 13, 1992;    CA Publication 2,106,336 published by D. Klassen on Mar. 30, 1994    CA Patent 2,614,447 issued to H. Proulx et al. On Oct. 8, 2013;
Although all the inventions of the prior art deserve undeniable merits, it is believed that the illuminated hockey pucks from the prior art do not have physical properties that are identical to standard hockey pucks. For examples, the weight and centroid of the puck may be different from that of a standard regulatory hockey puck.
Serious hockey players practice for years in the handling of a hockey puck with a hockey stick. Some players can even juggle and flip a puck on the blades of their sticks. These skilled players can slide, “saucer pass” and manoeuvre a puck with high accuracy. Skilled players can easily detect a puck that is out of balance, lighter or heavier than a standard puck.
For these reasons, it is believed that there is a need in this sport for an illuminated hockey puck that retains the static and dynamic properties of a standard regulatory hockey puck.